Before Jacob dies, his last
official act is to bless Joseph’s sons. Joseph presents them in order, putting
the oldest on Jacob’s right, and the youngest on the left, which is the proper,
traditional method of delivery such blessings. The oldest should receive the
blessing first and the best blessing, yet Jacob subverts expectations once
again.
He switches them up. Joseph is
actually pretty cross at this, even insisting that Jacob’s doing it wrong, but
Jacob fires back that the younger, Ephraim, will be treater than the older,
Manasseh.
So there it is. Isaac, Jacob,
Joseph, and Ephraim. Four consecutive generations of children have thoroughly
subverted the tradition of the oldest receiving the birthrights and blessings.
While the tradition will be maintained that the oldest gets preferential
treatment, there is a clear pattern of exception based on the deeds of the
child rather than simple birth order.
This is further demonstrated when
Judah’s tribe rises to prominence over his Reuben. Reuben’s tribe, despite him
being the oldest, is obscure, receiving no special treatment. The only other
special tribe is that of Levi, who become the priests of the Israelite nation
post Exodus, which we’ll get to.